Peak Oil

Peak Oil

You may be wondering what transition means; what we are transitioning away from on the one hand, and what we are transitioning towards on the other. It’s important to understand that the catalyst for this movement of change is Climate Change and Peak Oil.

CLIMATE CHANGE

This graph shows the range of predictions from the IPCC of how the polar ice will melt over time due to climate change, (the top dotted-line = slowest melt rate prediction, the bottom dotted line = fastest melt rate prediction). The point to note here is that the actual melt rate from satelite images (as shown by the black line) is much more severe thatn anyone’s worst case senario. The problem is one that requires urgent and critical action.

PEAK OIL

Peak oil is the point in time when oil extraction reaches a world-wide peak and we will be unable to increase production to meet the rising demand. Peak oil means that oil will be increasingly inferior in quality, costly to produce and difficult to extract. What we need to keep in mind about peak oil is that it’s not when it happens that’s important, but how it happens - whether or not we are prepared for its inevitable impact on our lives and systems.

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So how will we adjust to a future with less oil?
How will we go about preparing for such a future?

DIAGRAM

It’s important to understand that when we try and look for solutions to these huge challenges, we must remember to consider them not separately, but together. For example, coal to liquids and oil sands have been suggested as ways of combatting Peak Oil, but these proposals don’t take into consideration the carbon emissions that would result. Similarly, solutions to climate change might include the development of renewable energies like wind farms and solar, but enormous amounts of oil are required to produce them, oil that might not be so readily available in the future.